How to Save a Life
by Movies Forever
Summary: When Cas is injured on his first hunt as a human, Dean is pissed. But there's much to the story Dean doesn't know...
1. Chapter 1

**How to Save a Life:**

Pairings: Dean & Cas

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural L

A/N: Okay, this is my first chapter story. It's probably going to be short chapters (at least the first chapter) & I'm not sure if the story will work so reviews would help. Also, Cas has fallen and is now a human.

Cas was sprawled across the motel room's king sized bed like a sick puppy afraid of a thunderstorm. He was completely worn out and badly bruised. He groaned and rolled over as Dean cut the peach thread he'd used to sew Cas up and closed his eyes, defeated.

"Twenty-six stitches, Cas," Dean mumbled, "I knewit was too soon for you to start hunting again."

"I am fine, Dean. The demon just got the jump on me, is all." Cas stated, "It's nothing too bad, it's okay."

Dean turned away, "No, it's not okay, Cas, it's not... Not okay. You're not an angel anymore, you can't just... You could've been hurt worse out there, Cas. If I hadn't gotten there when I did, you would've..." Dean's words became inaudible.

"... I would've died," Cas finished, "but you always said that was the risk of the job."

Dean shifted in where he was perched on the bed and for a moment, Cas thought he wished to leave. "If I can help it..." He said quietly, "No one's dying around here again for a long time. Not you, not Sam, and not me... It's..." Dean choked up, "It's my job, now, Cas, to protect the three of us."

Cas blinked incredulously and struggled to sit up, but Dean lightly pushed him on the chest to stay on the bed, stiff as a board. He tried to act nonchalant as he listened to Dean and stayed down.

"Everyone dies, eventually." Cas whispered, tentatively, "You and your brother would know that more than anyone, I think..."

As Dean let out an indignant sigh and got up, trying to act stolid, Cas thought about following him. He had qualms about it, though, Dean was likely to tell him he needed rest for his injuries. But Cas limped over to Dean, and he could notice tears forming in his eyes.

"Cas, no... Just go lie down." Dean ordered. That was Dean, always the altruistic one.

Cas was vacillate over whether to or not, and grimaced slightly once he felt a small twinge of pain in his lower left leg, and began to fall over. Dean didn't notice, did he?

"Cas!? You okay?"

He noticed.

Dean caught Cas by the arm, led him to their bed, and slowly let him fall on top of the covers.

"Dean?" Cas asked.

"... It's okay, Cas, just rest." Dean said.

"... You always said family was the most important thing, right? That they were all you could count on?"

Dean's facial emotions changed, as though Cas was being equivocal. 'What does that have to do with you being hurt?' He wondered.

"I think that, too. You were right... Just... Keep that in mind." Cas told him.

Dean said nothing. Only looked at Cas blankly, as though he didn't believe that Cas really thought that.

"But then what would I know? I'm just a fallen angel, with a rudimentary knowledge of humans." Cas deadpanned. If Dean could be stubborn he would be, too.

"I'm going... Out." Dean searched for words. "... You gonna be okay by yourself for a while?" He's said the last part quietly, as if he were begging Cas to give him a reason, any reason to stay.

And for a moment, Cas wanted to. He wanted to ask him to just lie there, on the bed with him, for hours, content with the world. Cas' injuries were gruesome and they both knew it, but Cas also knew that if Dean were there, he forget about them in a second.

He glanced at Dean, who's winsome smile was dancing lightly on his lips. He wanted Cas to ask him to stay, really really badly.

But Cas was playing Dean's stubborn game.

"I'll be... Fine." He said, tentatively, because he was sure he wouldn't be. He tried not to watch as the smile from Dean's face slowly disintegrated.

"Good," Dean grumbled but neither of them believed it was truly good for a even a fleeting second.

Cas shut his eyes as he heard the sound of Dean's baby driving away. If Dean had only known what Cas had been doing, what he'd been trying to do, when the demon attacked him...

All Dean needed to know though, was that Cas was still the Winchester's guardian. Cas might not be an angel anymore, but that never changed.

TBD?


	2. Chapter 2

Pairings: Dean & Cas

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural

A/N: Yeah, I really haven't had a lot of motivation to write this but I guess a sugar rush and a desire to do something other than study for finals moved me along :/

Cas still remembered when he first met Dean. Even as "God", even when going against him to work with Crowley, and even through purgatory, he never forgot the burnt and broken soul he first laid a solitary hand upon in hell. He'd never forgotten all he'd done for Dean, and all Dean had done for him. He never forgot his one job: to be the Winchester's guardian.

Over the years, his position as an angel had made him incredibly irascible. He'd been longing for, waiting for a way out. And he was assigned Dean, and fell for him instantly. Cas was supposed to be Dean's saviour, the one who raised him from perdition, the one who saved him from demons, and the one who always came when he called. But what Dean didn't know, was that he was also Cas' saviour. The one who made him realize why he wanted to be alive, even as a human. Even after all he'd done. Dean made him feel loved.

Dean returned to the motel room in the wee hours of the night, clearly and utterly wasted. Cas hated when Dean drank, he did it so often as a result of his hunter lifestyle, but when Cas became human and Sam took it off, he'd ceased it. Alcohol meant something was wrong, it meant Dean had lost a willingness to be sober, lost the energy to deal with life as it was.

"Dean..." Cas whispered.

"Cas, you're still awake?" Dean asked, the tone of his voice like razors.

Cas received a surprise. Dean stumbled slightly over the floor as he dropped into bed with Cas, and nuzzled up to his shoulder, lethargic. It was something Cas had witnessed Sam doing whenever he needed comfort, but not Dean. Dean was the comforting one. Right now, though, Dean needed Cas. And Cas would be there for him.

"Good night, angel." Dean said as he drifted off into another nightmarish sleep.

Dean whimpered as he relived the horrible events of the day before. It should've been a routine hunt; some ghoul was killing people and all he and Cas had to do was gank the son-of-a-bitch. But it wasn't routine, it was Cas' first hunt since becoming human.

Cas assured him he would be fine, but then again Cas could be more stubborn then even Dean himself sometimes. It wasn't like he was worrying for no reason; he had every damn right in the world to be worried.

They'd found the ghoul in record time, she'd taken a liking to Cas at the hospital ("A nurse!" Dean had said, "Brilliant, she can have all the dead bodies she wants.") and even gave him her number. Cas went with her to her apartment, only to discover she was intent on killing him. Dean, having realized this when his 'Cas radar' went off (eerily similar to his 'Sammy radar'), he burst in the door just as Nurse Nancy Bitch's a Lot was ripping into Cas.

His instinct quickly kicked in, and he shot her in the head with rock salt.

But Cas was... Everywhere. A deep crimson color cascaded gently over his body and the floor, and Dean could've sworn, even if just for a moment, Cas wasn't breathing nor moving.

He picked him up off the floor and guided him to his baby.

And then Dean woke up.

"Ugh," were the first words out of his mouth. 'Result of five shots at a bar,' he thought. He struggled to move, as he realized something equal to his size was directly on top of him: Cas.

He quickly jumped up, "Cas! What're you... What's going on?"

Cas let out an indignant sigh and recounted the events of the night past.

"So, nothing happened here?" Dean begged.

"No."

"Oh..." For a moment, Dean almost looked disappointed, "How're you feeling?"

"Fine," Cas quipped.

"That ghoul... She, she really ripped into you there, huh." Dean said.

"Yes, I suppose." Cas whispered, crestfallen.

"Good thing I got there in time, huh?" Dean asked, almost as if he were demanding a thank you but wasn't expecting one.

"Yes."

"Alright, I'm going take a shower. Wash the bar off me. Don't go too hard on yourself." Dean scolded.

Cas stared at the man in front of him, broken still in so many ways. Dean had saved Cas. Dean thought he needed to protect Cas. But the whole time, Cas was protecting Dean.

He just wanted him to know that.

TBC?


	3. Chapter 3

Pairing: Dean & Cas

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural

A/N: Mood struck me I guess J

_Cas had obviously seen blood before. He'd healed Dean and Sam enough times to know it wasn't a good thing. The scarlet oozing out of the wound was a sight he'd been used to, at least as an angel._

_But as a human, he'd never felt such searing pain. He couldn't bare to look down at the sight in front of him, but he struggled to hold his guts together as the faint sound of Dean Winchester's voiced soothed him and comforted him._

"Dean," Cas rasped, his insides still hurt like hell and it was a struggle to speak.

"Cas, it's okay you don't have to say anything." Dean soothed.

After Dean had gotten over the initial shock of being in bed with Cas, he had laid back down with him, making sure he was comfortable and felt loved without ever saying a word. He didn't need to. Cas knew.

"When that ghoul attacked me... I-I thought I was going to die. But I didn't care about that." Cas said, grimly.

"What?" Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You were okay with dying?"

"It's not that... It's just... This world is corrupted, and I'm not an angel anymore. I'm..."

"You're what?"

"I was planning on killing myself."

Dean stood up quickly, in anger.

"Just... Listen, okay? I was planning on killing myself, but I couldn't leave you behind, by yourself. Alone again. I just didn't want that to happen to you... The ghoul didn't want me. She wanted you."

"What?" Dean asked.

"She was going to kill you, not me. I stopped her."

"What did she want with me?"

Cas paused. He didn't really want to tell Dean the truth. He couldn't tell him, but... It was time. He had to.

"To punish me..." Cas finished, "She wasn't a ghoul at all. She was... A fallen angel. Angry with me for being stupid enough to trust Metatron. She wanted to punish me, and that best way to do that was to kill you and leave me all alone. She wanted me to suffer. I knew who it was right away, so I followed her..."

"And almost got yourself killed!" Dean shouted.

"... Back to her house to confront her. She attacked me, and you showed up. But right before you did, she whispered something in my ear..."

"What did she say, Cas?"

Cas blinked back tears. He couldn't have Dean hate him.

"She said, 'Even Dean doesn't love you, no one does.' And then... You killed her. I already stabbed her with the angel blade when you came in, but I wanted you to believe she was a ghoul. I wanted to forget what I made heaven into; nothing."

Dean pulled the former angel into a tight hug. Cas sighed and braced for the inevitable.

"I love you, Dean." Cas whispered.

"I love you, too." Dean replied.

Cas was shocked. He didn't expect Dean to ever love him, not after everything he's done, what he became. He was even more shock when he felt the light touch of Dean's lips against his own.

"I just wanted you to know that." Dean said, as he pulled the covers over Cas' head and went in for more.

Cas may not be an angel exactly, but he was still Dean's angel.

Finished! So review? How was it? I know it was short but...


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